Top 7 maps that ultimately explain map projections

Map projections are cool, but they might be a bit scary. It’s difficult to understand how can you put a very complex round-shaped surface of the Earth on a flat plane. After reading this post, everything should be clear!

1. Portraying the features of a spherical surface on a flat plane

Map projection is portraying the features of a spherical surface on a flat plane. This cool image from the Rice Space Institute explains everything.

5. Mercator projection lies

When comparing conformal Mercator projection (black lines) and equal area Gall-Peters projection (green shapes) you can notice that the world as we know it from Google Maps is a lie. Africa is the second largest continent after Asia. Australia is the size of Europe. Scandinavia is a tiny piece of land. And Greenland is not as big as South America. You want to learn more about the real sizes of countries around the world there is an awesome tool to discover it.

6. Map projections are not boring

Map projections are all about math. This means that you can do with them whatever you want to as long as each point on the map is mathematically defined. Check out these cool examples of crazy map projections:

7. What these map projections say about you

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I'm a professional always thinking outside the box and a self-confessed gadget addict. As a son of a professor of cartography I was surrounded by maps all my life and as a result spatial way of thinking and seeing reality is naturally embedded in who I am.